ISGO.] -^'^^ [Wood. 



pism during the night, and a state of venereal excitement was induced, 

 lasting several days. During the night, urine v^'as passed very freely. 

 Before this, he had taken two grains of Hening's extract with the re- 

 sult of producing similar symptoms, which were, however, no more intense 

 tlian those caused by the single grain of the American resin. 



Messrs. Hance and Grifi&th prepared the I'esin from the remainder of the 

 hemp tincture, by first agitating witli milk of lime, filtering, precipitating 

 by sulphuric acid, agitating with animal charcoal, again filtering, concen- 

 trating by evaporation, and ])recipitating the resin by the addition of twice 

 the bulk of water. The resin thus obtained was tested by my friend. Dr. 

 Richardson, in the Pennsylvania Hospital, by permission of Dr. Da Costa, 

 the attending physician. One-fourth of a grain of it was found to be suf- 

 ficient to produce decided therapeutic results ; in some cases acting very 

 pleasantly as a hypnotic and calmative ; in others, causing evident sen- 

 sorial disturbance, but rather aggravating than alleviating the distress of 

 the patient. 



Having at that time a lady under my care, subiect to severe attacks of 

 neuralgia, I supplied her with some of the drug in ^ grain pills. Of these 

 she found one was always sufficient to induce a quiet sleep of some hours 

 duration, from which she generally awoke free from pain. After the 

 limited supply of this pi'eiiaration was exhausted, I tried with her a sim- 

 ilarly prepared extract made from imported India hemp plants, but a grain 

 of this did not suffice to quiet the pain and induce sleep. 



The above experiment? are certainly sufiScient to prove that the hemp 

 plant, as grown in Kentucky, contains a sufiicient abundance of the active 

 IDrinciple, to be capable of yielding a supply to the pharmaceutist. If I 

 am correctly informed, the India i^lant is worth at wholesale prices, about 

 a dollar a pound in our market. The male seeding plants in Kentucky, 

 after tliey have shed their pollen, are worthless. It was with such plants 

 the experiments were instituted. A considerable supply of them might 

 be obtained, so Mr. Hamilton writes me, for little more than the expense of 

 gathering them, or if the demand should exceed the amount of such male 

 plants, the leaves of the female plants when ready to be cut for the fibre 

 might be obtained on the same terms. 



A more important consideration than the mere monetary one, is the 

 probability that, wlien tlae plants were raised near home, a more uniform 

 l^roduct would be obtained. 



There can be no doubt, that under certain circumstances cannabis in- 

 dica supplies a medical need, which no otlier drug will so exactly meet. 

 Yet, the extracts as kept in the shops, even when honestly made, vary so 

 indefinitely in strength, and indeed are so generally almost inert, that the 

 use of this narcotic has been largely abandoned in consequence. It is 

 very probable that this variation depends to a certain extent upon differ- 

 ences in age and modes of cultivation, &c., of the plant. If this be so, 

 the growth of the plant under the eye of the pharmaceutist will give him 

 the opportunity of learning the conditions best fitted for developing in it 

 the active principles. 



A. P. s. — VOL. XI — 2d 



